91抖阴

The Power of Words

Nov 7, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

Where Sarah and Ishmael seem to fade from the scene, Abraham actively prepares for his death. The details of the burial of Sarah and finding a wife for Isaac that occupy the parashah rest in stark contrast to the death narratives of both Abraham鈥檚 wife and firstborn son.

A Prayer in the Face of the Storm

Oct 31, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

鈥淧rayer invites God鈥檚 presence to suffuse our spirits; God鈥檚 will to prevail in our lives. Prayer might not bring water to parched fields, nor mend a broken bridge, nor rebuild a ruined city. But prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, rebuild a weakened will.鈥� 鈥擱abbi Ferdinand Isserman

Prolepsis: How the Bible Tells Us the Future

Oct 31, 2012 By David Marcus | Commentary | Vayera

Regular screen watchers know that if in an opening scene the camera pans in on a detail like a dagger or a bicycle, then that detail鈥攖he dagger or the bicycle鈥攚ill somehow have an important role to play later on in the movie. Known as foreshadowing, this cinematic technique has its parallel in literature in the rhetorical device known as prolepsis, which indicates a future event that is presumed to have occurred.

Planting Trees, Planting Hesed

Oct 31, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayera

Just after the expulsion of Hagar and immediately before the binding of Isaac, a curious and somewhat cryptic episode appears in Genesis 21.

A Palace in Flames

Oct 27, 2012 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Lekh Lekha

What inspires one to leave home, to embrace mystery, to seek insight into the nature of our world? 

Trusting the Journey

Oct 24, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

Like many of the richest parts of the Torah, the opening lines of Parashat Lekh Lekha are fraught with ambiguity: 鈥淭he Lord said to Abram, 鈥楪o forth from your native land and from your father鈥檚 house to the land that I will show you鈥欌�� (Gen. 12:1).

Abram’s Trek, a Journey of Generations

Oct 24, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

At the opening of this week鈥檚 parashah, Abram, the nascent visionary and patriarch of the Israelites, is given the divine command to separate from all that is known and familiar.

Psalm 30: Dedication of the 鈥淚nner Temple鈥�

Oct 17, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

Psalm 30 has the enigmatic introduction, 鈥淎 Psalm of David for hannukat habayit鈥攖he dedication of the Temple鈥�; enigmatic because David never built or saw the Temple. It was his dream, but a dream unrealized in his lifetime and brought to reality by his son, Solomon. So we wonder how it came to be that we have a song (psalm) ascribed to David for an occasion he could not have seen, and we also wonder why this psalm became a part of traditional Jewish liturgy, always recited at the end of the preliminary blessings, followed by the mourners鈥� kaddish (see, for example, the Rabbinical Assembly鈥檚 Siddur Sim Shalom, page 14).

Daydreaming Out the Window

Oct 17, 2012 By Rabbi Abigail Treu | Commentary | Noah

The ark鈥檚 window bothered the Rabbis. It is a technical problem: in Genesis 8:6, Noah 鈥渙pened the window (chalon) of the ark that he had made,鈥� but in the very thorough account of the construction of the ark earlier in the parashah, no window was ever made. 鈥淲hat window?鈥� the Rabbis wonder. 

A Tiny Point of Hope

Oct 17, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Noah

Unrelenting human wickedness leads to the collapse of humanity and the world.

The Myths of Creation

Oct 12, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Bereishit

With the celebration of this coming Shabbat, we return to the beginning鈥攕pecifically, to the narrative of Creation.

My Lips, My Mouth, My Heart

Oct 10, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

With the cycle of Festivals behind us, and approaching the Torah portion Parashat Bereishit (鈥淚n the beginning . . . 鈥�), it is fitting to look at the very beginning of the core text of our liturgy鈥攖he 鈥楢尘颈诲补丑 or tefillah. We turn to this ordered sequence of blessings in every Jewish service, whether with a community or praying privately. The structure and history of the 鈥楢尘颈诲补丑 open enormous areas of reflection鈥攖o which this column will turn quite frequently鈥攂ut here let us look at the phrase that comes, so to speak, even before the beginning. The words 鈥�Adonai sefatai tiftach ufi yagid tehilatekha鈥� (God open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise) are from Psalm 51:17, and are printed in just about every version of the siddur (in smaller type) just before the opening of the 鈥楢尘颈诲补丑 (see for example the Shabbat/Festival siddur of the Rabbinical Assembly on pages 35, 115, 156).

Who鈥檚 the Hero and Who鈥檚 the Villain?

Oct 10, 2012 By Richard Kalmin | Commentary | Bereishit

To state things up front, my claim is that Adam and Eve did not just undergo a fall, but also a significant rise; to make that claim, I鈥檓 going to argue that two of the main characters, the snake and God, have often been misunderstood. The snake has gotten a bum rap, and God has usually gotten off much too easily.

Moses’s Final Words

Oct 6, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Simhat Torah

As we approach the end of the Five Books of Moses with our celebration of Simhat Torah, we arrive at Parashat Vezot Haberakhah.

Nusah: A Key to the Meaning of Prayer

Oct 5, 2012 By Jack Chomsky | Commentary

Of all the traditional melodies in the liturgical year, I have long been impressed by the remarkable musical setting of the kaddish preceding the prayers for Geshem (rain) at Shemini Atzeret, near the conclusion of the fall festival, and Tal (dew) at the beginning of Pesah in the spring).

Ushpizin in the Sukkah

Oct 5, 2012 By Rabbi Ayelet Cohen | Commentary | Sukkot

By Rabbi Ayelet Cohen

Immediately on the heels of the intense spiritual work of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Sukkot challenges us to turn our lives inside out again, this time quite literally. The Talmud tells us that for the duration of Sukkot we must leave our permanent dwellings and reside in temporary dwellings (BT Sukkah 2b). By its very nature, the sukkah must feel temporary; we must experience the elements in a way that we do not when we are at home.

Actions Speak Louder With Words

Sep 29, 2012 By Samuel Barth | Commentary

“Hareini muhan umezuman . . . I am ready to perform the mitzvah of dwelling in the Sukkah as instructed by my Divine Creator: ‘In Sukkot shall you dwell for seven days . . . ‘” (Siddur Sim Shalom, 330)

The View From Har Nebo

Sep 29, 2012 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Ha'azinu

We cannot begin to fathom the extent of emotion that must have rushed through Moses as he faced the reality that he was not to enter the Land, but “die on the mountain” that he was about to ascend. What words were exchanged between Moses and God? What conversation is not recorded in the Torah?

Fulfilling Our Potential

Sep 28, 2012 By Jonathan Milgram | Commentary | Devarim

When the end of the week arrives and we settle into our Friday night routine of rituals, I often try to encapsulate in a few short sentences what I think is the main thought or idea in the parashah so that my children leave the table with a 鈥渢akeaway鈥� lesson.

Ultimate Questions

Sep 20, 2012 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Shabbat Shuvah | Rosh Hashanah

There are some who expect religion to provide answers. The religious experience is thought to be a refuge from the messiness of life; a peaceful, ordered worldview that may help explain life’s daunting moments. In this way, faith offers the believer comfort that life is as it was meant to be, and that one’s spiritual work centers on acceptance and “finding” one’s path. Judaism turns these ideas on their head.